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There's so much to Warren Zevon's story that we needed to split him over 2 episodes.
The story of Zevon, hailed by Bruce Springsteen as “one of the great, great American songwriters”, is like a Greek tragedy, where everything that could happen to him, happened - and it was all his own fault! Zevon, an American based in LA, was a musician's songwriter. His songs seemed simple but were masterpieces of technique. He worked with key artists, like Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, REM, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie.
He was a drunk, by his own admission, who damned his own career when he went up to Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone and told him a few alcohol-fuelled home truths, and got banned from the magazine as a result.
Live, he wasn't afraid of baring his soul to his audience, once saying, “I’d prefer you didn't dance; these songs are kind of personal”; or wryly introducing a song, “Here’s a song that brings back a lot of memories. For me, anyway.”
His songwriting is full of characters such as Roland, a mercenary who ends up as a vengeful ghost searching for the “man who done him in”. Or Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, a boxer who killed his opponent in a match. Or outlaws Frank & Jesse James.
"Werewolves of London" shows Zevon's humour with a werewolf "with a Chinese menu in his hand / Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein”, and "drinking a Pina Colada at Trader Vic’s / His hair was perfect”, all set to an oft-sampled jaunty piano rhythm.
On top of this, his love songs were often achingly beautiful. Songs such as "Reconsider Me”, for Crystal, his ex-wife and the love of his life, and “Hasten down the wind” - “She’s so many women, he can’t find the one who was his friend.”
You can always count on finding great lyrics. In “Desperadoes Under the Eaves”, he states that “if California slides into the ocean / Like the mystics and statistics say it will/I predict this motel will be standing/Until I pay my bill”; in “Bed of Coals”, he's "too old to die young / and too young to die now” and in "Poisonous Lookalike", he's “so confused /(he) can't tell the salt from the wound” and refers to “Little Miss Gun-to-a-Knife-Fight".
We make no apology for being Zevon fan-boys. You don't need to lock Zevon to a date or particular album. In this streaming age, you can just pick a random point and listen to a great bunch of songs.
Mick has been listening to Kina Grannis, who does a lovely, moody version of Elvis' "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You" . The Phatman has been listening to Neil Young's "Lotta Love", by Nicolette Larson. Nicolette did a lot of work with Neil Young but unfortunately died from an overdose of paracetamol.
References: Warren Zevon, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Bruce Springsteen, REM, Fleetwood Mac
Book
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” - Crystal Zevon
Listening:
Kina Grannis
